Top Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

Everybody I know has something that makes them happy. There is one release that they can flood themselves with and wash away anything bad going on in their lives. This one thing is something that one feels they just need to do. The feeling is more than a desire and for many is more like an itch. However, while the urge is being fulfilled, a feeling of complete relaxation goes through the entire body. Everything wrong in one’s life simply washes away. I believe in the specific thing that lets each of us escape and be happy. My best friend sings. She does not stop singing. She sings in the movie theater, grocery store, and bathroom. My best friend sings to songs she does not know the words to. She makes up songs to sing to. While driving home from my best friend’s senior recital, we sang in the car together to every single song on the radio, whether we knew the words or not. When my best friend got dumped she sang about how lonely she was, and then she sang about how messed up she was, and then she sang about how much she loved to sing. At annual birthday barbecues my best friend leaves the party when she feels overwhelmed and goes into the basement and sings. She sings after she fails tests, after she gets into a fight, and after she’s been alone all night. I asked her once if she was happy and my best friend said as long as she could sing she would be happy. Then she sang me a happy song.

I love to play baseball. I’m not fantastically good at baseball, but I love it anyways. I have been playing since I was five, which is before I can remember. Last year I played in what will probably be my final season, at least for a while. It was definitely the most eye opening season I have had because I finally realized how much I loved to play. I knew that I liked baseball; I almost knew that I needed baseball, but I did not quite know just how much baseball did for me. I had taken dance lessons during the school year and I would find myself needing to play baseball in the summer. After a long and tiring day, getting out onto the field was my highlight. I would go out to first base, take in the scent of the field and worn leather, and start throwing warm up grounders. Describing the feeling that surged through my entire body seems impossible. A relaxing rush, a waterfall of calmness, a release of all stress. My body and everything going through my mind combined with the cool air and the electric energy of the team. Immediately after the game started my mood was uplifted. Baseball is what I need to do to feel better, release all of my stress, and let go of my surroundings. I believe in each thing that makes everyone feel completely relaxed and happy.

Essay of the Week

A chance encounter in a coffee shop introduced writer Rachel Richardson to a man who had many stories to tell. Ms. Richardson came to understand that everyone has a story, and our lives can be enriched by listening to the stories of others.Click here to read her essay.